From The Desk

Just a quick shot from the desk of both a thumbnail sketch and what the finished piece looks like when it's finally inked.

As I showed a few days ago, the wheels for the bike will be generated in the computer. It's still the simplest way I could figure out to make a detailed spoke pattern on both tires.

But, this is what it looks like before it's scanned into the computer and manipulated.

Next up on this piece, a little scanning, a little tweaking, and a lot of color!

OilCan Drive Finished Cover

After showing off the different versions of this cover I did a few weeks ago I figured it was time to show you the finished version of the one I finally picked.

Probably to the dismay of both Rob and Manu, I didn't choose the one they picked (and for those of you who don't read the comments sections of blogs it was the second option.) It was a good design and my second choice but, when the cover was folded over, I felt I lost a bit too much of Vince's head to the back cover. It's why I came up with this, the third and final option.

So, yes, I chose the third one. I am putting both the wrap-a-round version and the front cover only version here so you can see how it will work when all is said and done.

But, I did notice one thing wrong when looking at these flattened images before posting. Henry's bass neck should be on top of and overlapping the OilCan Drive logo. Oops. Not a big deal but it means I'll have to go back into the layered Photoshop file again and fix it. Just one more thing to do.

It's no wonder that I feel some days that I'll never get this project done.

From The Vault - OilCan Drive 2004

I spent the majority of the day getting my computer back into some sort of working order and I am beat.

But, I didn't forget about you or the "From the Vault" Friday blog post.

Here are a few more of the pages from the same story as the cityscape page I featured last week.

I'd love to talk more about what is going on here but hopefully the tale tells itself. I am just too tired.

I will mention that these pages feature a rival band from the OilCan Drive universe named "The Ass Clownz." One of these days I'll work these guys back into a new storyline. With a name like that and the look they have going on how could I let these guys simply fade away?

Enjoy!

Sneaking in Some Inking

In between a few client jobs I found some time late last night to lay some ink down on an OilCan Drive piece I penciled last year.

I'm not sure when this piece will be done or what it will be used for but it's fun to have something I can tinker away with at the end of the night that's for me and me alone.

Rain Rain Rain

It's been raining and snowing here in Boulder for the last day or so. I can't tell you how ready I am for spring already. Every time we get one nice day of weather there seem to always be reports of rain and snow on the horizon.

So, what better way to express the feeling I'm having today then show off one of the pieces I worked on last weekend for the new kids book.

Let me tell you, riding a bike when you're caught in the rain is no fun.

Wheels

This weekend I've been finishing up a kids book that not only features bicycles and dense woods but also pouring rain and lightning striking trees.

So, it's been a long weekend as I figured out various ways to pull these things off.

When it came to the bicycle tires I figured it might be better to build them in the computer so I could get the curves and arcs of the wheels correct. Here are a few tests I did before I got to the final to make sure they would work out and look OK.

It's been a long weekend trying some of these new techniques out (thank God the rain idea I had worked. If it hadn't I'm not sure what I would have done at this late hour.) But, it was fun to try some new ideas and put a few new tools in the old toolbox.

From The Vault - OilCan Drive City 2004

This page is a spread from yet another attempt to do an OilCan Drive comic book. I don't know which version of "OilCan Drive #1" this was but I think it was done sometime in 2004-2005.

I always liked the idea that the OilCan Drive world was a barren wasteland with population centers few and far between. And since I didn't want a simple city to be sprawled out across the landscape I thought it would be a neat idea to make these giant tower cities. The whole city is within this giant structure.

I thought it would make the city an easy place to defend from the outside elements, similar to a castle in the middle ages. Plus, I liked the fact that commerce and modern living were right there in the city while a stones throw away was the danger of the outside world.

Plus, it made for a fun place to try and break into as well as escape from when the going got tough.

And, it looked cool to boot.